Mastitis: symptoms, stages of development and treatment

Mastitis is an inflammatory disease of the breast (breast) that develops most often after birth and is accompanied by severe pain in the mammary gland, discomfort during breastfeeding, redness and chest enlargement, fever, and there are other mastitis symptoms. The main cause is inflammatory bacterial infection. Mastitis flows in several stages and in the absence of correct treatment passes into a purulent form that has dangerous complications. In the early stages of treatment conservative (antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, etc.), and purulent forms are treated already surgically. In this article we will tell you what exactly is mastitis, symptoms and treatment of this disease.

Mastitis: Causes

Usually the cause of mastitis is the ingress of bacteria into the mammary gland. They can get there through the nipple cracking, through the blood (in case there are foci of infection - pyelonephritis, tonsillitis, etc.). After all, the female body is usually weakened in the postpartum period and is not able to fight effectively with bacteria.

An important point in the development of mastitis - lactostasis - is stagnation in the ducts of the milk mammary glands , which arises because of insufficient or incomplete decantation of milk or because of rare feeding. The presence of milk in milk ducts is a favorable factor for the reproduction of bacteria, since it contains many nutrients.

There are 2 main types of this disease:

1. Lactation - mastitis of nursing mothers;
2. Non-lactating - he is not associated with breastfeeding. It occurs rarely and occurs after a mammary gland injury, due to chest compression or hormonal disorders.

Mastitis: stages of development

Postpartum mastitis has several stages:

1. Serous - an early stage of the disease, characterized by a slight increase in temperature, pain with palpation of the breast, an increase in its volume.
2. Infiltrative - occurs in the absence of treatment in the serous stage and is characterized by the presence in some part of the breast painful compaction, fever.
3. Purulent - there is a suppuration of this site.

Mastitis Symptoms

The disease often develops sharply - this means that the first signs of mastitis appear fairly quickly, from a couple of hours to a day. Mastitis symptoms are caused by these:

1. A rise in temperature above 38 degrees indicates that there is an inflammatory process in the body. Increased temperature leads to headaches, chills, weakness.
2. The mammary gland is hot, it is enlarged in size, the skin on the site of inflammation is red.
3. Pain in the chest - unceasing and aching, intensifying with breastfeeding.

If the early stages do not begin to treat the disease, it goes into a purulent form. Symptoms of purulent mastitis are as follows:

1. The temperature is elevated, from 39 degrees and even higher, sleep is disturbed, severe headaches are excruciated, and there is no appetite.
2. Lymph nodes in the armpit area are enlarged (they are probed as small, dense, painful formations).
3. Pain in the chest is strong, painful, even a very light touch to it.

Breastfeeding with mastitis

Despite the form and stage of mastitis, breastfeeding is categorically forbidden, due to the fact that in milk and healthy, and a sick chest can contain many bacteria that are dangerous for the child. But pumping must be done very carefully and regularly. Full pumping not only speeds up recovery, but also preserves lactation so that a woman can continue breastfeeding after recovery.

Mastitis: treatment

The tactics of treating mastitis depends on the time that has passed since the onset of the disease, as well as on its form (serous, purulent, etc.). The main principles of treatment are suppression of the growth of the number of bacteria, reduction of inflammation and anesthesia. As for purulent forms of mastitis, they are treated only surgically. In no case should the treatment be carried out independently.

Recovery is painless and much quicker if you reduce or completely suppress lactation. After recovery, if desired, lactation can be restored. Usually, it is suppressed with the help of special drugs (Parlodel, Dostinex, etc.), which can be assigned only by a specialist.

Nongovernmental stages (infiltrative, serous) are treated conservatively, they do not require surgery. Doctors advise to express milk every 3 hours from two mammary glands, because stagnation leads to the reproduction of bacteria. To eliminate pain, local anesthetic drugs are used (for example, novocain blockades).

In the treatment of mastitis, the main drugs are antibiotics. Their choice is determined by the results of detecting the sensitivity of bacteria. Most often in the treatment of mastitis antibiotics from the group of penicillins (Amoxiclav, Oxacillin, etc.), aminoglycosides (Gentamicin) and cephalosporins (Cephradil, Cefazolin, etc.) are used. Antibiotics can be administered either intravenously or intramuscularly.

Purulent form of mastitis is treated only surgically - perform an operation under general anesthesia. After the operation, antibiotics are prescribed.
Breastfeeding is allowed only when antibiotics are stopped and bacteriological examination of milk does not detect bacteria in it.

Any delay in treatment will lead to the development of a purulent stage, which is life-threatening, therefore, having noticed the mastitis symptoms in yourself, immediately go to the doctor.